Ricciardo was forced to retire due to significant damage suffered during a safety car restart, when cars bunched up suddenly at the corner.
Stroll, on the other hand, received a 10-second penalty from Formula 1 stewards for causing the collision, a punishment he deemed unfair.
“It’s incredibly frustrating. Racing incidents can happen, but they should never happen behind a safety car,” expressed Ricciardo to the press.
“What annoys me is that I watched Stroll’s onboard video to try to understand his perspective a bit,” continued the Australian. “As soon as we started braking, his helmet turned to the right. He was fixated on the apex of Turn 14, completely unaware of my presence.”
“At the front of the pack, someone braked and everyone stopped suddenly. The car in front of me went from 60 km/h to zero in an instant, resulting in the collision. It was really reckless. One of those incidents,” explained Ricciardo to reporters.
“I received a penalty because of the outcome of colliding with Ricciardo. However, it wasn’t like everything was normal and I recklessly collided with him,” argued Stroll. “There was a peculiar chain reaction that I believe the stewards should have taken more seriously into consideration.”
Ricciardo, who hasn’t scored points in the last five races and retired in the last two, was hoping to gain some momentum in China after outqualifying his teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
The Australian, initially considered a possible return to the Red Bull main team alongside three-time champion Max Verstappen, is now facing pressure after Tsunoda’s successful performances in Australia and Japan.
To make matters worse for Ricciardo’s dissatisfaction, the stewards issued two penalty points and a three-place grid penalty for the next race in Miami, after he overtook Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas under safety car conditions. (Reported by Alan Baldwin)
